Best place for craft cocktails
Sable Kitchen & Bar It’s tempting to go with Aviary, the liquid outpost from the Alinea team, but with the changing of guard to Charles Joly from Craig Schoettler, it’s still too early to tell what...
View ArticleBest gourmet doughnut shop
Glazed & Infused With doughnut shops springing up like Republican debate obfuscations, there’s an embarrassment of riches found at Doughnut Vault, Do-Rite, and old-school spots like Old Fashioned...
View ArticleBest theater production in the last year or so
“The Iceman Cometh,” Goodman Theatre Sure, the NATO thing was a big deal. But only a few blocks away, another event of enormous international significance was going down. The Goodman Theatre’s...
View ArticleBest sandwich shop
Publican Quality Meats Everything Paul Kahan touches usually turns to dripping delicious fatty pork, but here, it’s the lamb meatball sandwich (since replaced with lamb and, yep, pork belly sausage)...
View ArticleBest new restaurant opened in the last year or so
Acadia It’s L20, Alinea or Tru quality at affordable a la carte prices. There’s pre-fixe too if you’re so inclined. Whichever way you go, chef Ryan McCaskey (formerly suburban Courtright’s) is a star...
View ArticleBest new bar or club opened in the last year or so
L210 Only open for a few months and not open to the public, Nike’s invite-only, ultra-exclusive hang suite in the West Loop was a non-ground level, exposed brick sanctuary that was the city’s best-kept...
View ArticleBest local dance company
The Seldoms In dance, “best” can mean a lot of things; it can mean technical excellence and versatility, it can mean critical and/or national acclaim, it can mean popularity with audiences and...
View ArticleBest place for celeb sightings
Chicago International Film Festival The forty-eighth annual Chicago International Film Festival brought out the Hollywood heavyweights this year: Guests included Al Pacino, Christopher Walken and even...
View ArticleBest foreign cultural center in Chicago
Instituto Cervantes Foreign cultural centers are under-appreciated assets of a city like Chicago. Often established by the governments of various nations, they serve as a sort of home away from home...
View ArticleBest place to hear world music year round
Old Town School of Folk Music Since the unfortunate demise of Hothouse a few years ago, Chicago has been without a venue that programs world music at its core. And that’s a cultural shame as well as a...
View ArticleBest chance to win a championship THIS season
Blackhawks (again) Even though this season hasn’t started out like the historic opening they had to jump-start last season’s miracle run for the Cup, the Blackhawks are still the best team in the NHL....
View ArticleBest Chicago theater company
Steppenwolf Theatre With a deep ensemble that includes actors like Academy Award-nominated Joan Allen and Golden Globe-nominee John Mahoney (both of whom appeared on a Steppenwolf stage in productions...
View ArticleBest place for dessert
Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams If there’s one dessert destination to scream for, it’s Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams. The first Chicago location of the Columbus, Ohio-based ice creamery already draws a...
View ArticleBest place for kitchen gadgets
Williams-Sonoma The store associates are so friendly and won’t make you feel like a dunce for not knowing how to work the pasta-machine attachment. Cute potato mashers and seafood scissors will make...
View ArticleBest Kanye West lyric he’ll likely never write
“I am a God/ Your Lord on tour in Margiela/ My whole team’s got dollar signs/ And we all fashion killas/ Yeah we put on what killed us/ Confederate Grim Reapers/ Now they wearin’ my fangs/ Hangin’ from...
View ArticleBest theater production in the last year or so
“Simpatico,” A Red Orchid Theatre A Red Orchid Theatre ensemble member Michael Shannon has a few more film credits and a bit more name recognition than most Chicago actors, but he still holds his...
View ArticleBest chicken
Whole roasted chicken for two at The Lobby Chicken breast is often a boring choice on menus, an oft-dry and tasteless option for less adventurous eaters. Not at The Peninsula. Louche quantities of...
View ArticleBest garden store
Gethsemane Garden Center Even if you’re not embarking on a new gardening project, you’ll want to stroll Gethsemane’s grounds in Andersonville, just to take it all in. The rows and rows of green, leafy...
View ArticleBest bet as to which team gets to the World Series first
White Sox It’s not that the Kenny Williams replacement, Rick Hahn, showed flashes of brilliance during his first year run at rebuilding the Sox by tearing them down first, but Theo Epstein’s plan over...
View ArticleBest art exhibit in the last year or so
Amalia Pica, Museum of Contemporary Art This past spring and summer, MCA visitors were introduced to an artist they’ve probably never heard of, with a large career survey of the Argentinian-born,...
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